Infosys ruins the day; Sensex slips 175 points as IT stocks tank

Mumbai: Market benchmark Sensex today settled 175.40 points lower at 26,904.11 after surging over 225 points in early trade following a downward revision in Infosys dollar revenue forecast for the ongoing fiscal, which triggered a massive sell-off in the entire tech basket.

IT bellwether Infosys' shares erasing all its early gains ended 3.88 percent down after it cut dollar revenue guidance for the financial year 2016 despite posting 9.8 percent rise in net profit to Rs 3,398 crore for the second quarter.

Consequently, IT index plunged 2.02 percent, while tech took a hit of nearly 1.85 percent.

Moreover, caution ahead of the key macroeconomic data, IIP and inflation, to be released later in the day too influenced market mood.

The 30-share Sensex after remaining in green zone briefly by surging 225 points at the outset slipped into the negative zone soon after Infosys announced results and dipped below the 27,000-mark to touch a low of 26,855.75.

The index finally settled 175.40 points down or 0.65 percent at 26,904.11.

The 50-issue Nifty also ended 46.10 points or 0.56 percent down at 8,143.60 after shuttling between 8,244.50 and 8,128.20.

Bucking the trend, metal stocks soared for the second day after Glencore said it would cut zinc output by a third, sparking a short-covering rally across the board. Vedanta surged 7 percent, while Hindalco Industries rose 5.98 percent.

Besides, Bank of Baroda ended 3.02 percent down at Rs 176.80 after the CBI carried out searches of three locations in New Delhi in connections with alleged Rs 6,000 crore remittances sent from BoB to Hong Kong camouflaged as payments for non-existent imports.